Andy Bray, stepping up his play in anticipation of meeting the dangerous fourth seed Samitha Ranaweera in tomorrow's semi-final, unleashed his full arsenal on teaching professional Brent Smith on the way to a 6-2, 6-2 victory in the Vitamin Water Open tennis tournament at the WER Joell Tennis Stadium yesterday.

While the top seed was easing into the next round, the mother-son team of Alison and Neil Towlson were busy pulling off a major upset as they ousted second seeds Shonette Wilson and Steve Bean in another three-set thriller 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 in a match that lasted well into the night — as did the Ladies A fixture between Veronica Dunkerley and Louisa Freisenbruch with Dunkerley coming through with a 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 victory.

Possibly in the day's biggest surprise was the ease with which Debbie Erlank defeated Charmaine Thomas, with the former winning in straight sets 6-1, 6-0.

In the Mixed Doubles, meanwhile, Barbara Lambert and Eldon Daniels beat Jan and Jolanta Jarmula 6-2, 6-2 and Wilfred Gonsalves received a scare before getting past Frank Tersigni 7-5, 6-3.

In other matches Paul Simon outlasted Brian Birch 5-7, 6-0, 6-3.

The big match today will see Zarah DeSilva continue her comeback on the local tennis circuit when she takes on the hard-hitting Veronica Dunkerley at 6.00 p.m..